There are two kinds of players on Big Brother 16. There are the smart, strategic HGs who understand the game and know how to control their emotions and manipulate others. Then there are the HGs who are ruled by emotion and make crazy, irrational decisions based on them. Last week, Devin proved himself to be the latter, suddenly and randomly changing his mind about Donny and Brittany while alienating everyone in and out of the Bomb Squad.
In this episode of Big Brother 16, the new HoHs don’t go rogue and, instead, have a clear and simple plan to backdoor Devin. We also get to witness the depth and breadth of Caleb’s unhealthy and tragically hilarious obsession with Amber. If you thought GinaMarie was crazy last season for loving Nick, this takes it to a whole new level of insanity. To misquote a Meatloaf song, Caleb would do anything for love, including that, where “that” refers to going on the block and losing a competition.
The Two HoHs
Nicole admits that she didn’t want to win HoH. Derrick, however, is stoked because this is an easy week with Devin as the target. Devin wants to be nominated right away so he has two chances to save himself, but Derrick isn’t dumb enough to consider that for a second.
After Nicole and Derrick get their HoH room, they get some alone time to talk about nominations. They both have a long list of people they don’t want to nominate, starting with Cody, Christine and Hayden. Since backdooring Devin is the plan, Nicole can put up Amber because Amber nominated her last week. Derrick then decides to put up Caleb, thinking he might throw the competition in order to save Amber, thus keeping Derrick as the permanent HoH this week. Jocasta is also expendable on Derrick’s side, but Nicole’s second nominee is undecided.
The Bomb Squad Exposed
We see Devin, prior to the eviction, telling Jocasta, Brittany and Donny all about the Bomb Squad, hoping they will ally with him for being honest. They are just confused. Christine also tells Nicole about it to solidify their alliance with Hayden (though that actually happened back on Monday). Nicole is wary that her BFF Christine didn’t tell her about it sooner, but she knows she has no alternative but to trust her.
Haycole = Jordeff
The first filler of the episode features the sweet and innocent flirtation of Hayden and Nicole. He talks about how amazing and pretty she is and she just plays dumb. It’s identical to the blossoming romance of Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd back in season 11, with her refusing to make out, but there’s still an obvious connection and attraction. The most dangerous thing about this showmance is that it’s not as real and obvious and most showmances.
Caleb’s Obsession and Donny’s Mistake
Derrick, in yet another move of master manipulation, tells Caleb that Nicole is going to put up Amber. His goal is to get Caleb to offer himself as a nominee to throw the Battle of the Block competition to save Amber. It works almost too quickly because Caleb is delusional and so in love with Amber that he thinks she’ll fall in love with him for doing this.
Caleb tells Amber about this plan. She is understandably skeptical and tells him not to do it, but he’s not scared at all. He genuinely believes this is an act of love and Amber will want to marry him because of it. Caleb is literally the only person on Earth who doesn’t know that Amber doesn’t like him like that and never will.
Meanwhile, Nicole talks to Donny about nominations, telling him about Derrick putting up Caleb to throw it. She tells him that she’s nominating Amber and Donny suggests putting up Christine because she was the other girl in the Bomb Squad. He obviously has no idea how close Nicole is to Christine.
Donny then goes to Brittany and Jocasta and tells them about Caleb throwing the Battle of the Block. Bad move, Donny, because Amber sees this and runs up to tell Nicole. I know everyone loves Donny, but he’s shooting himself in the foot with some bad gameplay. As he said in his own intro video, he’s not as smart as he thinks he is.
The Nominations
HoH Nicole nominates Amber and Donny.
HoH Derrick nominates Caleb and Jocasta.
Nicole says that Amber nominated her and Donny is up because of new information she got at the last minute. Derrick says Jocasta has been called a floater and Caleb volunteered to be nominated.
Devin knows the plan is to backdoor him and he’s not happy about it, but he decides to apologize to Derrick to try and save himself. Derrick, however, sees right through this and still wants him gone.
Nicole feels badly about nominating Donny because he’s so sweet, but Hayden convinces her that it’s OK because Donny is too obsessed with the Bomb Squad. Later she cries and apologizes to Donny, but he says it’s OK. She explains why she did it (him telling Brittany and Jocasta about Caleb throwing the comp), and Donny’s excuse is that Nicole didn’t say that he couldn’t tell people. That’s the lamest excuse ever, but somehow it works on Nicole.
Frankie’s Sister and Zach’s “Cousin”
The second filler segment is about Frankie’s sister, Ariana Grande, with people wanting to talk about Frankie’s family while he tries his hardest to change the subject. He refers to her as “Ari” and no one is onto his secret.
Then Caleb gets the first mission from Team America, and they have to convince three HGs to spread a rumor to three other HGs that someone in the house is a relative of a former HG. They decide that, as Paola was leaving, she “told” Donny that Zach is the cousin of season 15’s Amanda Zuckerman because they’re both loud, obnoxious, Jewish and from Florida. This is really dumb.
The Battle of the Block
The competition has a Harry Potter theme with wizards and castles. Donny the groundskeeper is most excited about the hedges. The two sets of nominees must work together, with one running back and forth to collect pieces while the other is in a harness and must fly up and down to complete a puzzle. Amber and Jocasta are flying while Donny and Caleb are running.
Since Jocasta knows Caleb wants to throw it, she decides that God is her partner. Caleb slows down a bit, but even half-speed Caleb is pretty fast. Donny loves puzzles, so he and Amber are quite good at it anyone.
Amber and Donny win the Battle of the Block, so I suppose God had more important things to do than helping Jocasta build a puzzle of a wizard duck. Now that Nicole is dethroned, she magically “disappears.” If you watch the live feeds, you know what she comes back as.
See Who Won the Power of Veto>>
Now that the first part of the plan is done, will the week continue to work out as Derrick wants so he can backdoor Devin?
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
